Institutional

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To improve student learning reflections through CATS and Program Review (Assessment Plan).

In conjunction with the 4DX campus initiative and the EMCC Super Goal #1, the math division developed the following WIG:  To contribute to closing the equity gap and improving a student’s sense of belonging, the Mathematics Division will increase the student’s response average on the twenty questions of the Classroom Community Survey (Rovai, 2002) from a 2.2 to 2.5 by December 2021.  Residential faculty reported what types of activities/practices were implemented in their classes to increase a student's sense of belonging.  Students reported an average

This syllabus research project is an example of assessing learning practices to enhance learning environments at the classroom, program, and college level. I learned from student success literature that often, underrepresented students will not ask for exceptions to syllabus policies while their counterparts will, thus creating unintentional equity gaps with class syllabus policies. I studied various course syllabi from EMCC classes to see how my policies compare. I then surveyed EMCC faculty and students about the course syllabus.

The Student Experience Research Team (SERT) formed in Fall 2020 under the Title V Grant to explore student equity achievement gaps at EMCC. The SERT has been conducting a mixed-method study on the student experience at EMCC to better understand how we can improve student learning and outcomes at the college. During the Fall 2021 Student Success Conference hosted by the Maricopa Center for Learning and Innovation, the SERT presented initial research findings from the Spring 2021 collected data. 

SAC's Closing the Loop luncheons provided:  EMCC faculty and staff an understanding about the difference between a institutional (ILO) and course-level learning outcomes (CLO), familiarity with the Tableau dashboard, and identify the steps to have their course-level learning outcomes set-up in Canvas.

During the Spring 2021 Celebration of Learning event was hosted by SAC.  EMCC Faculty and staff had an opportunity to facilitate 30 assessment workshops within their areas to share best practices with colleagues and increase student learning.  There were three thirty minute sessions.  Some participants presented for multiple sessions.  We had:

1. Number of workshops:  12 

2. Number of presenters:  *12 (session I), 14 ( session II), 10 (session III)

3. Number of attendees:  *224 attendees 

SAC Co-Coordinators wanted to create a culture of meaningful assessment at EMCC with our faculty and staff. The goals are to increase the number of courses to move their course-level learning outcomes(CLOs) into Canvas, increase more CLO data collection, and have a more streamlined data collection processes.    

In October 2020, SAC Co-Coordinators facilitated two virtual luncheons. EMCC Faculty and staff had to opportunity to review  ILO and CLO data.  The goal was to facilitate meaningful conversations about student learning.

This year, the Psychology Club and Psi Beta (PCPB) have had to meet all online. While this has presented us with challenges, it has also opened up our club to many possibilities. Our students wanted to have events, but indicated concern that they wouldn't actually be able to engage with the speakers, as in other online events they often aren't able to speak or raise their hand as frequently as they would like. We decided to create a Women In Psych Panel event.

CATS purpose:  See if a statistically significant difference existed on final exam scores (common assessment) between a 16-week online course & an 8-week online course, based on different class lengths of GBS151-Introduction to Business.  Given the upcoming HLC visit and emphasis upon institutional learning objectives (ILO's) and class learning objectives(CLO's), I wanted to assess student learning in this top 40 class, where students use critical thinking skills to successfully pass the final exam.    

Through conversations with the tutors, a desire was discovered to be better.  The tutors know their material very well but wanted to see if there was a way to improve on their delivery style and customer service.  I introduced the concept of continuous quality improvement (CQI) which is a culture of never-ending improvement.  The assumption is that unless we learn something about what we are doing, we are unlikely to know how to improve it.

The purpose of this CATS is to explore student withdrawal rates and exam scores from six MAT151 courses across two semesters to determine whether Video Lessons or Journal Entries appear to lead to greater student course retention and improved learning.  

See comments for update to close the loop.  

Please see attached for more information and feedback from attendees for Fall 2019.  A new document has been uploaded with the results from the Spring 2020 virtual Now What? luncheon.  

In Spring 2018, administrators came back from HLC informing us that we needed to have learning outcomes written and assessed.  We had a college wide push over the past year to get these written at the course, program, and co-curricular level.  We are struggling with people understanding how everything should be aligned, so the assessment coordinators, champions, and committee members are working to help alleviate confusion.